1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a method for making an album, and more especially, to a method for making an album in an automatic way.
2. Description of Related Art
The methods for making an album are now largely classified into two types: manual and mechanical.
The Manual method includes two dominant processes:
The first process is to use white cardboard made of acetic acid resin as an interlayer. The specific process flow is as shown in FIG. 1. In this process, a sizing machine, a creasing machine and an auxiliary machine for pressing and others are adopted. White cardboard and acetic acid resin are used as consumables.
Firstly, apply acetic acid resin on the white cardboard with the same specifications for the album by means of the sizing machine, bond it with the photo properly, sufficiently dry the board after the photos are bonded, and then crease the boards in the middle one by one by the creasing machine, fold the board manually, apply the adhesive on the back of the board, align it by referring to the middle seam and bond them well back to back, press and dry it as a whole for 1 day; after being flattened, trim the three edges (except the middle seam) to complete the making of the album core, afterwards, add ornaments such as an ironed edge, stick the cover to finish making an album.
The second process is to use PVC with the self-adhesive pre-coated as an interlayer. The specific process flow is as shown in FIG. 2. In this process, a manual creasing machine, a cutter and an auxiliary machine for pressing and others are adopted. The PVC sheets with the self-adhesive pre-coated on both sides in different specifications are as consumables.
Firstly, crease a photo in the middle seam, fold it manually; and then pull away the protective film on one surface of the PVC sheet, from the middle seam, make an alignment, flatten the film manually and attach the photo properly while removing, afterwards, remove the film on the other side and attach the second photo back to back by the same method; while completing adhesion, press it flat and trim the three edges (except the middle seam), add ornaments on the edges like ironing, afterwards, stick the cover to finish making an album.
The Mechanical method also has two processes mainly:
The first process is semi-auto hot pressing method. The process chart is as shown in FIG. 3. In this process, a machine integrating functions such as creasing, hot-sealing of the middle seam and hot-sealing of the entire album is adopted. The PVC sheet or white cardboard with pressure-sensitive the adhesive coated on both sides is used as consumables. The PVC protective film along with the machine is provided to prevent bonding between two pieces of the album paper at a high temperature.
Crease a photo in the middle seam area, fold it properly and put it aside; apply pressure-sensitive the adhesive between the backs of the photos, insert the PVC protective film between the photos, make an alignment by referring to the middle seam and ensure the tidiness; put the middle seam of the album into the hot-sealing middle seam area for pressing for 4 minutes, and then put the whole album at a horizontal level into the album a hot-sealing area for pressing at a temperature of about 100° C. for about 10 minutes; after completion, take out the album and put it in a cooling area for flattening and cooling for about 10 minutes; remove the PVC film, trim the three edges (except the middle seam), select ornaments like an ironed edge and then stick the cover to finish making an album.
The second process is automatic hot-melt adhesive sealing without an interlayer. The process flow is as shown in FIG. 4. In this process, a three-in-one machine integrating cutting, creasing and folding, an automatic album forming machine and a three-edge cutter are adopted. The hot melt adhesive is the only consumable.
Firstly, place the album paper developed in the entire film onto the three-in-one machine integrating cutting, creasing and folding, the machine then automatically performs creasing and folding to get a stack of photos properly folded; afterwards, put the stack of photos into the automatic album forming machine manually, then the machine will automatically perform sizing, pasting and so on, in this way, rapidly making an album core without an interlayer. Put the core into a three-edge cutter for automatic cutting and stick the cover to form an album.
The process of using white cardboard made of acetic acid resin as an interlayer has the disadvantages of a long processing period due to the fully manual operation, airtightness and insufficient dryness of acetic acid resin bonded with the album paper, deformation after dampening and the thick single-page of an album.
The process using PVC with the self-adhesive pre-coated as an interlayer and semi-auto hot pressing method has a shorter processing period, but a larger amount of manual operation is still required. Moreover, the consumables are high in cost and the self-adhesive pre-coated on the PVC is prone to deteriorate, thus it is apt to lead to album foaming and deformation.
The disadvantages of the process by automatic hot-melt adhesive sealing without an interlayer include: the machine has no interlayer function, an additional creasing, folding and pasting machine must be provided, it is designed to fit for continuous development and printing, namely, those requiring the development and printing of the entire film only, so the three-in-one machine integrating automatic cutting, creasing and folding is not compatible with other printing machines.
Moreover, there is a common disadvantage in the processes above, that is, it is impossible to exchange between the use of an interlayer and the skip of an interlayer, and that is to say, the equipment can be used to make an album with or without the interlayer permanently, incapable of being changed flexibly at the customer's desire.